What’s ‘The King of Clayfield’ About?
On a cold February day in the small town of Clayfield, Kentucky, an unsuspecting and unprepared museum director he finds himself in the middle of hell on Earth. A pandemic is spreading around the globe, and it’s turning most of the residents of Clayfield into murderous zombies. Having no safe haven to which he can flee, the director decides to stick it out near his hometown and wait for the government to send help.
But the disease and those infected are not his only concerns. He must also contend with armed gangs, strife within his group, his own lack of skills… and his conscience.
There are tough decisions to be made if he is to survive. But if he is smart–and a little lucky–he can do more than survive; he can live like a king.
Our ‘The King of Clayfield’ Review
The King of Clayfield is one hell of a wild ride.
I don’t normally say something like that when writing a review unless there is good cause for it. Shane Gregory has hit upon a version of the zombie apocalypse that most writers overlook. In the average ZA novel, the survivors do one of two things, they hunker down as best they can or they head for the hills attempting to find that mythical safe location where they can wait out the zombies and then try to retake what was lost.
In The King of Clayfield, which takes place in Clayfield, Kentucky, our unlikely hero is a small town museum worker who is basically disconnected from the real world. What I mean is he’s essentially a Casper Milquetoast type guy who now divorced, doesn’t have a whole lot of social interaction. If it isn’t something at the museum, he has no clue what’s going on.
Enter the zombie apocalypse.
Helping out a fellow survivor, he gets clued in on what’s been happening and slowly comes to realize that he needs to remove his head from his fourth point of contact, stop contemplating his navel lint, and get his act together if he wants to live. Watching the actions of his fellow townspeople from the relative safety of the museum, the light bulb above his head finally comes on.
The main characters evolution from a laid back, mild-mannered museum curator to a hardened survivor is an epic journey. Gregory hits it spot on with his writing. The reader is not exposed to the perfect hero character. Instead they are treated to one that over the course of the story becomes literally the King of Clayfield.
Shane Gregory’s hero character is the epitome of the man with no name. Thrown into a situation that is, at first, seemingly untenable, his character achieves what few others have been able. We learn right along with the characters, that a world after a zombie apocalypse is not one that is pleasant. There are others out there that see a radical change in civilization as a means to take control. The King of Clayfield illuminates those personality types in a spotlight. They become obstacles that our hero and his fellow survivors, Jen, Brian, and Sara must overcome.
Don’t miss The King of Clayfield, it.s definitely one to continue watching as the ending leaves the storyline open for a sequel.
